Mark. is the glass half full? Or half empty?
I would personally view the statement as a challenge. If they said we expect 3 boats in xxx class, and that was my class, I would try to find that 5th boat along with myself and come anyway.
Why do find portsmouth racing so distasteful? Its racing, you are on your boat, you are probably having fun(thats what its all about isnt it), and you are in the company of people who like to do the same as you. Why would you be turned off from any regatta? I have a few that didnt exactly trat cat sailors nice, but otherwise regatta are alot of fun.
David Mosley
www.seacats.org
I don't mean any disrespect to the thoughtful responses here, but in my area (and many others) this whole discussion is irrelevant.
Very few people have any exposure to sailing. The sailboats, including cats, that are around appear to be permanently docked on trailers in storage yards. Ski boats, fishing boats, PWC--they outnumber sailboats on most of our local lakes at least 100:1. There are no sailboat dealers or suppliers within at least 80 miles.
I suspect other folks live in similar demographics. I would race at a local venue with any format. In fact, I've been considering asking the local yacht club if I could race in their PHRF fleet (only boat near same speed is a Hobie 33) as they're just about the only sailors around.
Bottom line is that sailing is just not very popular in the most areas of the US. Why? Probably lots of reasons. So promoting sailing in general is a much larger issue than portsmouth vs formula vs one design. 20 years ago Hobie was doing something right--when bystanders see my Taipan they say, "Nice Hobie." Marketing, in some form or another, is absent now. For example, Lara Croft is seen on a jet ski, not a catamaran, in the latest Tomb Raider. We all know the thrill of cat sailing stacks up to powerboating, but requires a lot more brain cells.
Sailing is viewed in the US as inaccessible, eccentric, expensive, difficult, dull, slow, etc. Cat sailing is anything but dull and slow. It is far less expensive than powerboating. It has all the exhilerating characteristics that could appeal to the 20-somethings buying PWC by the pairs. It's all a matter of exposure and marketing.
Does Hobie or Performance do any large scale marketing? Is expanding the base of sailors in the US part of their business plan?
I have yet to do this but I hope to someday soon...go to your local bicycle and kayak shops (most kayak shops around here cater to climbers, hikers, and campers too) and post some fliers with action shots of catsailing and advertise a free 'get to know' sailing seminar (like someone posted above). If you get any resistance from the shop owners, explain to them how they can benefit by carrying a few profitable items (some they already do) like life vests, gloves, shoes, hiking harnesses and bring the stuff with you to show them. Only take 10 or so people because these guys will not have boats and your club will have to supply them boats and skippers. Have plenty of pictures and / or videos (see the performance cat promotional video - about 30 minutes of hull flying fun, or excerpts from Rick's stuff) and have a video and chalkboard learning session (borred from the above post) at someone's house on a Friday evening and follow up the next day on the water (and pray the wind shows up too). You might have a contingency for Sunday if it doesn't look very windy for Saturday.
THESE are the people with the money, the drive, and the physical ability to bring this sport back again. They're just off doing other, just as expensive, things. Chances are they just haven't considered that catamaran sailing can be more challenging, a little safer, and a heck of a lot of fun - they've probably never even HEARD of it.
If anyone wants any help designing some marketing materials for such a project, I'll be glad to help for free.
Mark,
You hit a sore spot with me and I'm sorry if this sounds mean-spirited but...
I strongly disagree with you on why our spring regatta has had poor attendance. It is not because it is poorly organized event as someone has mentioned previously, and I happen to take offensive to that as I put a tremendous amount of time, effort and heart into that event and every other event I plan through the year.
Poor attendance at the event is not because of how the event is scored. Do you speak regularly with the sailors in our Division? Do you know what they want? I can guarantee you it is not a different scoring system. It is too move the event off the oceanfront.
Quote and analyze all the polls taken off CatSailor if you like, but I hate to break this to you Mark, even though I like CatSailor Magazine very much and this internet site, it is not a complete and true representation of all the Cat sailors out there. I can name many cat sailors and racers that have no idea this place even exists.
It is very easy to sit back and cast criticism on how others run their events or how they should score them and why you are not going to go to their event because you don’t like this, or you don’t that. But think about this. There are dozens of very dedicated people out there who spend enormous amounts of time and effort and heart into planning these events. Sometimes, they are practically the only one doing anything, but they keep plugging away doing the best they can with what they’ve got.
If people like you keep choosing to sit back and tell others how they should run their events and then maybe you might drag your boat out and come race, you are going to find yourself in the same position you are right now. Sitting at your computer still bitching about how these events are run and how you think it should be done.
Or worse yet, the people who do plan and run these events will get tired of it and stop doing it. Then you won’t event have an event to throw opinions on.
By the way the Raven Rookie race is for rookies - people who have never raced before. Surely you are not saying you felt the need to race in it?
Tracie
Great idea Jake.
I live in NY, close to Oyster Bay and race against PHRF (Performance Handicap Racing Formula) monohulls. Does anyone have PHRF not Portsmouth ratings for a Prindle 19 ?
Here's an example...
Looks great Jake!
Feel free to post any comments or suggestions (like adding the word 'free' in there somewhere 
). I will gladly customize this (or anything like it) for anyone who wants one.